Pikangikum guides paddle with comedy queen

Timothy Suggashie and Terry Turtle of Pikangikum guided the woman described as "Canada's leading lady of character-driven comedy" on a Berens River canoe trip in August.

Volume 30 #17: September 4, 2003

The guides led Cathy Jones, who stars in the hit CBC series This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and nine others from Goose Lake on the Berens River to Pikangikum - a week's worth of paddling.

The journey was one 10 river trips organized for this summer by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, a wilderness protection group, to celebrate Canada's boreal forest and draw attention to its status as one of the last great intact forest regions on Earth.

Called the "Boreal Rendezvous," the various canoe adventures brought together celebrities and First Nations people, scientists and journalists.

While Jones was the best-known personality on the Berens, those paddling on other rivers included Ken Dryden, the former Montreal Canadiens goaltending great and current Toronto Maple Leafs president; scientist and broadcaster David Suzuki; and Justin Trudeau, son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

The Berens River journey started Aug. 8 with a group meal at the Soul Soothing CafÈ in Red Lake, with the restaurant serving fresh pickerel, chanterelle mushrooms from the boreal forest, and blueberry cheesecake to the guest canoeists from across Canada and a welcoming committee from Pikangikum. The Pikangikum group included Alex Peters, president of the Whitefeather Forest Initiative, elders Oliver and Sophie Quill, Norman and Lillian Quill, Gideon and Ellen Peters, and George and Lucy Strang.

The next day, the group flew in a Norseman to Goose Lake where guides Suggashie and Turtle were waiting.

Jones had never been on a wilderness trip before but Becky Mason, a landscape artist, reported the Jones was doing "superb" after one day of paddling that covered 28 kilometres on the Berens.

Mason also offered a description of the Berens landscape: "The forest here is so rough, that it comes right down to the water's edge, muskeg, grasses and black spruce, and you can't even find a spot to go out to go to the bathroom. You have to fight through the bush, so we actually ate our lunch in the canoes today, floating, which was fine."

On Aug. 12, four elders and four youths from Pikangikum joined the paddlers to look at some medicinal plant and wild rice areas, and some pictographs. The elders explained how the wild rice is gathered and processed, and introduced the group to a couple of natural medicines.

As the paddling resumed, nature writer James Raffan expressed appreciation for the Ojibway words being taught by Suggashie and Turtle.

"It has really enriched our time along the way," he said. "And although we're tripping over the words, we are having a few good laughs."

Near the end of the trip Chris Henschel, a guide for the Wildlands League (the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society) described a "dynamic display" of northern lights: "They mounted steadily in brightness from almost nothing. Red laced the underbelly of the northern lights and began to ripple, ebb and and dance along its margin, eliciting ooohs and ahhhs from all of us."

The trip concluded with a feast in Pikangikum, highlighted by the signing of an agreement between the First Nation and the Partnership for Public Lands (made up of the Wildlands League, Federation of Ontario Naturalists, and World Wildlife Fund Canada). The two sides agreed to work together to achieve "meaningful conservation" and "resource development that respects and benefits the community."

Jones called the feast celebrating the partnership the highlight of her trip.

Afterward, Henschel summed up the week's events.

"I know I speak for all of us when I say that the experience was incredible: the beautiful river, the excitement of the whitewater, the tiny wonders, the magic of Mikiami Falls, the day with the elders, the inspiring new partnership with Pikangikum, swimming, and laughter," he said.

"I deeply appreciate the commitment each of us has made to conservation, the respect we showed on our trip - for each other, the land, the people of Pikangikum - and the great friendships we have forged."